Monday, June 02, 2008

Thoughts, and What's Next

Hello Friends! Congratulations to those of you who won something in the drawing. If I could, I would give something to each and every one of you. You have all done me the kindness of reading this blog.

I've been thinking about ways to stay in touch, and I decided a couple of things. First, if you'll still visit, I could keep up "What's Your Friday Perfume?" so we could all touch base with each other. Second, I still have to finish my reading challenges, so I will still be posting my thoughts here and over at the Short Story Challenge blog. If you ever read this blog for the books, I hope you'll still drop by now and again.

Wow, I did this backwards: I did "what's next" before "thoughts." A reader (Uma) asked me in one of her comments:

"...it would be just interesting to know what were the most interesting and breathtaking (both positive and negative) discoveries you've made during your time as a perfume blogger - lines, scents, notes - whatever. What's your personal résumé?"

I've been thinking and thinking about this. The first thing I thought was this: When one is new to this sort of perfume experience, as I was, practically everything is breathtaking. I'm not entirely sure I ever got over that, because it seemed that almost everything I tried, I was moved by it for one reason or another. I suppose, though, the most consistently breathtaking line for me has been Frederic Malle. I can't think of one of these scents that didn't grab me by the collar and shake me around at least a little bit. Two of my very, very favorites, Iris Poudre and Une Fleur de Cassie, are from this line.

That said, the line that holds more favorites than anything, where I'd own a bottle of every single perfume if it were possible, is L'Artisan. The only ones I might be able to pass up are Ananas Fizz and Verte Violette, because the first one doesn't suit me at all and the second lasts...well, for just about a second. The other line I love is Hermes, although I didn't write about too many of their perfumes.

And this may sound nuts, but I was truly blown away by how much I loved Flowerbomb when I finally got around to wearing it. For some reason I expected it to be really awful, very "woman wearing too much perfume in the elevator," but instead I got an elegant hippie. Lovely.

The biggest disappointments to me? I didn't have many. I wrote about the few that I had. I wasn't in this long enough to be jaded about too many releases, but I will say this: I don't understand flankers. It's too much of a supermarket experience for me. It's like buying Wheat Thins--you can get original, low fat, low sodium, garlic and herb, roasted vegetable, cheese flavor, and on and on. Okay in a cracker, not so good in perfume.

The other thing that disappoints me are perfumes that are supposed to smell like soap or laundry detergent. (Come out from behind the draperies, Clean Fragrances. Everyone knows I'm talking about you.) If the idea is to blend in with the rest of our blandly scented environment, then why wear anything at all?

I suppose the last thing (because it's the end of the day, my brain is taxed, and I like to end on a positive note) is that I learned I am most definitely a white floral fanatic. Gardenia, jasmine, tiare, tuberose...I find them absolutely intoxicating. I thought for sure I'd come out on the side of heavy incense, and while I very much appreciate a good dark perfume, the crisp or creamy white petals will win every time.